(ATR) With the IOC deadline drawing near, Toronto Mayor John Tory is still undecided about a 2024 Olympic bid.
"I am not going to rush into something that would put us at risk," he said.
Toronto has until Tuesday, September 15 to submit a letter of intent to the IOC expressing the city’s interest in hosting the 2024 Olympic Games.
Tory has avoided a verbal commitment to the 2024 race since the Pan American Games in July brought excitement about a possible Olympic Games to the city. Tory told the media he would make his decision after the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games concluded.
It has been nearly one month since the Parapan Games wrapped-up in August and the mayor has failed to provide details about the status of Toronto’s potential bid. Tory and Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne say the cause of delay is the amount of questions that remain unanswered.
"There are a lot of questions that haven’t been answered and it’s a very short time period so Mayor Tory and I will continue to try and get those questions answered as we move towards some of those dates," Wynne said at a joint news conference in Toronto.
The biggest question looming over Toronto is whether Tory will commit to the bid, one that must be answered in four days. Tory says the decision to submit a letter of intent to the IOC rests on his shoulders.
"I just felt in the circumstances that the decision as to whether to even send a letter or not expressing interest was one that I could make, in consultation with my colleagues and a lot of other people. So I'll be held accountable for that decision," Tory said.
With the deadline looming, opponents of the Olympic bid are beginning to surface. On Thursday, former mayor Rob Ford criticized the Olympics, calling the event a "bottomless black hole".
"I cannot emphasize enough how bad of an idea this is. There were multiple instances of cost overruns with the [Pan Am Games] we just hosted, and we still don’t have the final price tag yet," Ford said.
Ford is not the only council person against an Olympic bid. On Wednesday, the Mississauga City Council unanimously decided to not support a Toronto Olympic bid. Mississauga hosted many of the combat sports competitions at this year’s Pan Am Games.
"Without a proper comprehensive business case which details the budget implications and financial requests Mississauga taxpayers would be asked to commit to as part of this collective effort, Council could not proceed with supporting a Toronto bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics in such a short time-frame," Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said.
Toronto would likely need to utilize surrounding communities to host competition for the Olympics much like the city did for the Pan Am Games
If Tory does commit to submitting the letter of intent, Toronto will join Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, Hamburg and Budapest in the 2024 race. The winner will be chosen at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru in 2017.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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